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It was set up with the wrong cable connecting the PC graphics card to the monitor.. It had an HDMI to DVI, connection instead of a DVI to DVI one.. Changed cables and all the usual BIOS/DOS output is now showing as I'd wanted.. Now also shows the safe mode options as it should.. HDMI doesn't fire up graphics until after Windows is loaded, hence lack of BIOS posts etc..

"If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you'll need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer."

That's the problem, I do that but the menu doesn't appear on the screen, it's as if all DOS output is suppressed..? If I try and boot from CD no message to press any key to boot from CD appears, like it does on the laptop..

The PC was built for me, have they not installed something, a basic graphic card or software,or something?